EXERCISING

Well, my doctor said I don't need any more physical therapy. I am now stable. Bullshit! I've been on the stationery bike and treadmill for two nights now. I will not be satisfied with the way I am.

There is nothing worse anyone call tell this old broad than that she can't do something. It goes against my grain. Just ask my husband!

I raised two kids married to a drunk who couldn't work. I've canned vegetables, made clothes and changed the plugs in my car. I can do plumbing and plane a door. I bet I can get back more movement in this leg if I put my mind to it. I certainly intend to try.

Well, that's enough spouting off. Talk to you later.

PACKING

It's time to start assembling our wardrobes for our cruise. One time we went in February and were able to hang out at the pool. Another time we were outrunning a hurricane and it was so blustery no one wanted to be topside. I hate taking clothes I don't need.

My problem this time is dress up night. I really can't wear anything but my New Balance tennis shoes right now. I sent for a pair on Hush Puppy flats. They didn't look too bad on line but Oh My God! They look like something my Grandma would have worn.

I have always loved to wear heels when I dress up. I can imagine, though, trying to walk in them, the deck pitches a bit, and there I am-hurt and embarrassed. Why do we always get embarrassed when we fall down. How many times have all of us hit the dust and the first thing we do is look around to see if anyone noticed? This is a strange reaction, isn't it?

Well, anyway, I pulled out a bunch of crap out of the closet and tonight is try on night. A lot of my stuff is different sizes so who knows what will fit? Come to think of it, why the hell do I care? I'm 56 years old. I should be enjoying my Too God Damn Old to care about what other people think age. Don't you agree?

Talk to you later.

NO BLOG

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been 87. He died at 61 and I still miss him after 25 years.

DINNER PARTNERS

When you go on a cruise, the smallest dinner table is for four people. Generally, we have really enjoyed the company of these people. The maitre 'd looks at your profiles ahead of time and tries to set you up with companionable people. I'm a bookkeeper and my husband is a Nurse Practioner. On our first cruise, we were set up with an Accountant and a Nurse. There company was very enjoyable and interesting except for they were having a miserable time in their marriage. We found the husband in a funk up on deck one night and he spent the entire evening with us. How sad!

The last time we went cruising was for a week. We were seated with some people from LA who were interesting and intelligent. The only thing wrong was that they were: 1. overzealous religious people, 2. they were embarrasing hogs. The first night, the husband looked at the portions and remarked that he didn't think he would be full. I innocently remarked that one could ask for seconds. (Bear in mind that there are four courses-most everyone is stuffed by the time they are finished). Both husband and wife ordered at least two entries per night which was not too bad.

The crowning glory, though, was the night we had lobster. The wife had three dinners, the husband had four and then asked for four more lobsters only. They ate a total of eleven lobsters and, honest to God, the next day our busboy told us that the lobster ran out on the second seating. I can't even imagine what their grocery bill must be like!

My husband and I had a glass of wine each night. These people were non-drinkers. One evening, we saw the husband in a special cigar section puffing up a storm. Now I know their religion forbids smoking.

The reason these people came on a cruise was that their nineteen year old son had come on the cruise with some friends and they decided they would go to keep an eye on him. Can't you imagine what a good time the son and his buddies had? Good Grief! They made sure the cabin they booked was right beside the kid!

The other bad thing about these people was that the husband was a name dropper. He sold Nikes or something in L.A. and supposedly all the stars came to him to be fitted (Pia Zadora was one name he dropped). He also bragged about all the free, expensive, dinners he had had. What a claim to fame!

Anyway, I hope we get some people that are really fun this time.

WEEKEND

I spent all day Sunday in the kitchen. It was just like old times as my favorite thing is to bake. I wanted to have my own bakery or be a history teacher. I wound up as a bookkeeper because I am good at it but it never was my first choice.

My younger daughter did a southern dinner in honor of Martin Luther King yesterday. I had my older daughter and her kids over for dinner and I wish I had told them we were honoring Dr. King. He was a great man.

I'm going to my LA doctor on Friday. At least my husband and I get to spend the day together and eat out. That's always fun. I'm going to surprise him and sit in front all the way down. In previous trips, I have had to lay on the back seat to keep my leg elevated. I bet he's tired of looking like my chauffer. He does love to drive and says he would have liked to be a truck driver. What a waste that would have been. He's a Nurse Practioner and his compassion for his patients is astounding.

Anyway, I can't think of a damn thing funny this morning so I'll talk to you later.

CRUISING

My husband tells me because I didn't have any vacation this year, he's going to take me on a cruise. We are now booked on a four-day to Ensenada. We have done this same cruise twice so I can tell you we're not getting off the boat at Catalina or Ensenada. My apologies to anyone who lives in Ensanada, but it really is a shit hole. We've been to four places in Mexico and the best was Mazatlan. Catalina is nice but we did the whole island and plant museum last time.
Why get off and spend money when everything on the boat is prepaid?

Being on a cruise is like being rich for a week. They are cheap (if you don't care about a top cabin). The total cost for two of us is $585.00. Where else can you stay and have exquisite meals, free shows and someone else picking up after you for four days for that price? I love it. I could live like that all the time. Sigh!

We went out of New Orleans for a Bahama cruise for our 20th Anniversary. I picked a week's trip with only three stops: Jamaica, Cozumel, and the Grand Caymans. I hate being rushed. The best part of the trip was the day the boat stopped at Cozumel and we booked an all day trip to see the Mayan ruins. It was fantastic.

My favorite show on the boat is always the newly-wed game(although the Hairiest man contest by the pool was pretty entertaining but kind of sickening). The host picks three couples: newlyweds, middle-weds and long term-weds. The strange part is that the newly-weds generally can answer more questions about each other. I guess the longer we are married, the less we dote on the little things or maybe we just plain don't notice anymore.

Anyway, I'm sure looking forward to a nice rest.

ANNIVERSARY

Today is Old Hoss's First Anniversary as a blogger. As my daughter says "any reason is a good reason to eat cake". I guess I'll have to stop on the way home and get one of the frozen Pepperidge Farms as I have become very lazy in the baking area since Christmas cookie day.

It's almost time to go home from work. I don't know about other people but some nights I hate to go home to cook dinner so much that I would rather stay and work overtime. I started cooking all the meals in our family when I was about eleven and then went into cooking for my own family when I married. At even just one meal per day, that comes to 20,440 meals I have prepared. If you add on an extra meal two days a week, I don't even want to add it up.

This is what you young girls have to look forward to. Cooking, laundry and cleaning plus holding down a full-time job. Isn't life grand?

Oh well, at least I'm still healthy enough to do and for that I am thankful. Talk to you later.

MEMORIES

I hope I didn't already tell this story, but having my Mom here brought back a lot of old memories.

My cousin Judy (the tattle-tale and adult ass kisser) was with us for the summer. My cousin Tom walked down to spend the day. My folks decided to go somewhere for the day and us four were left home alone (ages 10 to 12). Of course, my Grandma lived next door in case of emergency.

Anyway, my ass-kissing cousin told my folks that she and I would clean the house while they were gone. The boys kind of laughed at us, grabbed the wagon and headed on off. They were on their way to scour the roadside for bottles and walk three miles into town to trade them in for candy. This was our favorite summer pasttime and about the only candy we got. By the time they came back, we'd changed the beds, swept, and were starting on a huge sink of dishes.

They had taken some blankets to make a tent on the lawn so I had to sneak out to see how large the spoils were. They'd had a good day. There was about a gosh damn peck of penny candy. Even the ass kisser wanted some of that. We sneaked back to the tent and the fight was on. I don't mean argument-I mean fistfight. When any of us would complain to my mother that so and so hurt us she would say "Shut the hell up and fight it out". We became very tough.
Anyway, after about 45 minutes or so, we wound up with our fair share and headed back to the house.

One of us had left the water in the sink running. Now my Dad was a cheapskate and we were nagged every day about wasting hot water. Also, the house had hardwood floors and there was about an inch of standing water through the whole house. Our asses were grass and our folks were going to mow it when they came home.

I went to get the boys. You understand that the fist fighting was kind of a normal thing with no hard feelings. The boys knew they owed us the candy. They just wanted us to work for it. They came in, took one look, grabbed a broom and went and borrowed Grammie's broom and extra mop and pail. They were sweeping the water out the door and my cousin and I mopped behind them. My Grandmas was wise and never walked over to see what we were doing.

Well, we got it all done and the floor was dry when my parents got home. You never heard so much praise for how nice the house looked and for the fact that every floor was so clean. This was one time I truly felt bad for the ass kisser because our present for cleaning was a new book for all of us (I never figured out why the boys always got a present because they didn't usually clean) and she didn't much like to read.

That was one thing my folks did right. My whole family loves to read. My folks also never censored what we read. I read Mandingo when I was thirteen. When we were old enough to choose, we chose not to read smut, but everything was our choice.

Anyway, that's a story for today.

LIFE AS NORMAL

Mom got home safe and sound and not too tired. She was, however, cooking herself something to eat when I called. I know the airlines have had to increase prices to keep up with gas prices (tickets are really high right now) but has anyone seen the box lunch (and I use the term loosely) that one gets to purchase for $5.00? Mom said it had cookies, raisins, nuts and other snack foods in small quantities. She brought the box of raisins to show us. The box was so small that it held 8 raisins! How about they raise the price to $7.50 and have mabe 10 raisins and maybe a peanut butter sandwish? I wonder what people get served on the long international flights?

It really sucked to go home to a dark house last night. It is really not welcoming after you've worked all day. The nice offset? I didn't cook dinner. My husband and I both scrounged when we became hungry. We use regular plates only when we have to. Most of the time, we use paper and I am worth it! I generally do cook decent dinners but after 50 years of so of cooking them, a person starts to get a little tired of cooking, cleaning, working and any other darn thing that requires him/her to get off the damn couch. I like to bake a lot more than I like to cook.

Well, that's it.

RETURN TO THE ICE ZONE

We have a room at the Marriot beside the Airport tonight. The reason? I let a travel agent make Mom's flight reservations and she leaves at 5:44 a.m. tomorrow. As this is the height of the fog season, we can't take a chance on driving. By the time we drop her off and drive home, it will be just exactly time enough for us to get to work. Oh Jolly! Won't we be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed?

Mom called my sister to pick her up after I called the airline and confirmed her flight yesterday.
She will be going from California (our days have actually been in the sixties this winter) to Maine. My sister has already told her that once she is home, she will have to stay inside because her steps and yard are glare ice. My sister will get rock salt to take care of it but, meanwhile, Mom is housebound. I am so damn glad that I don't have to put up with the crappy weather anymore.

This week starts real winter life for me. I'll be working overtime and starting our income tax crap at home. It would be nice to claim all the medical bills this year, but I am sure that when I figure them up it will be just under the percentage of income that IRS allows. I'm sure most government employees have a health insurance that covers every little sneeze!

When I took this job twenty-five years ago, I was scheduled for an interview with the state (I had already passed their test). Because I knew I wouldn't be working locally and we had one vehicle, I stayed with the job I had already started. You don't know how many times I have regretted that decision. A great retirement here was one of the benefit packages. Last year, our plan was frozen. Imagine that-a retirement plan in trouble! Darn!

Well, time to go to work.

Talk to you later.